Is your tea too hot?

For anyone who has ever been told they take their tea far too hot, there may finally be some evidence to back up the criticism.

A very large UK analysis involving almost 980,000 adults has found that people who preferred their tea or coffee very hot had a substantially higher risk of developing oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma than those who preferred their drinks warm.

The association was particularly striking for those reporting a preference for “very hot” drinks, with roughly a threefold higher risk compared with warm drinks. Drinking six or more hot drinks per day was also associated with a 71% higher risk after accounting for temperature.

The important point is that the concern appears to be temperature rather than tea or coffee itself.

The researchers suggest that repeated exposure to very hot liquids may damage the cells lining the oesophagus. The study is observational and relied on participants’ reported preference for drink temperature, so it cannot prove causation.

Nevertheless, the practical advice is easy:

You don’t have to give up the cuppa. Just let it cool.

And perhaps don’t judge the person who takes theirs lukewarm quite so harshly.